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File Compare/Merge actions and shortcuts
This topic lists the actions you can perform in File Compare/Merge with their shortcuts.
File Compare/Merge actions
This section lists the actions that you can perform in File Compare/Merge using menus and toolbar buttons. All of these are available in the standalone File Compare/Merge. Subsets of these are available in the main and embedded File Compare/Merge.
These actions are common to file and folder comparisons and merges.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| New File/Folder/Image Comparison | Opens a new file, folder, or image comparison pane. |
|
Undo (Ctrl+Z ) Redo (Ctrl+Y ) |
Undoes or redoes previous actions. |
| Enable/Disable Independent Scrolling | Controls whether the panes scroll independently or together. If the toolbar button is Enabled (up), as you scroll in one file, the other file automatically scrolls to match the two files. If the toolbar button is Disabled (pressed), the panes use independent file scrolling. |
| Reload Content (F5 ) | Reloads the contents of both files. Before reloading the contents, a Save Results dialog box opens giving you the option of saving your results first. |
| Postponed Opening On/Off | Specifies immediate or delayed file opening. This action is controlled with a toolbar button. With the button in the Postponed Opening Off position (not pressed), as you open a new file, the comparison is immediately performed. With toolbar button in the Postponed Opening On (pressed), the comparison is delayed until this toolbar button turns it on. |
| Swap Panes | Swaps the left and right panes. |
| Switch Comparison Modes |
Opens the panes in a two-way or three-way horizontal, vertical, or mixed layout. A three-way layout enables you to have a third pane between the two files you're comparing, in which you can merge the two files into a common base version. When you are in a three-way merge layout, you have additional toolbar actions available for automatically merging the two files into a final base version of the file. See Common Parts Auto Merge, Full Auto Merge, and Highlight Changes in this table. |
| Generate a Report | Opens the Report dialog box where you can select a report name, output type. and report transformer to apply to the report. |
| Print Comparison Report | Prints the comparison report you generated using Generate Report. |
| Center/Move Splitter | Enables you to automatically center the splitter bar between the panes using a menu item, or move the splitter with the mouse to resize one of the panes. |
| Maximize/Minimize Panes ( Ctrl+M ) |
Minimizes or maximizes the selected pane. There are also menu items for maximizing/minimizing/restoring the upper/left or lower/right panes in a three-way comparison. |
The following actions apply to both file and folder comparisons and merges, and correspond to the buttons on the toolbar.
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Copy |
Copies the selected text or files/folders to the left or right pane, or to the base pane in a three-way comparison. Copied filed or folders are marked with a check mark, and you are prompted to commit the changes. There are specific toolbar buttons for doing this, and when you hover the mouse cursor over a highlighted area, a Copy button also displays in the pane in the highlighted area. |
| Delete |
Deletes the highlighted text or files/folders from the left, right, or base pane. Deleted files or folders are marked with a circle icon containing an X, and you are prompted to commit the changes. There are specific toolbar buttons for doing this, and when you hover the mouse cursor over a highlighted area, a Delete button also displays in the pane. |
| Move Image | Moves the image by clicking and dragging on the image when the Move Image toolbar button is pressed. |
| Append Text (Alt+Shift+Right) |
Appends the selected text from one pane the other pane or panes. The button for appending text appears when the mouse cursor hovers over a highlighted area. When you hover the mouse cursor over a highlighted area, an Append button also displays a highlighted area of the pane. |
| Insert/Replace Text (Alt+Right ) |
Inserts or replaces the selected text from one pane the other pane or panes. When you hover the mouse cursor over a highlighted area, an Insert or Replace button also displays a highlighted area of the pane. |
| Find Specified Text (Ctrl+F ) | Searches for a text string or regular expression in a text-based file. You can choose whether to use case sensitivity and whole words only. |
|
Previous Change ( F7 or Alt+Up ) Next Change ( F8 or Alt+Up ) |
Quickly navigates to the next or previous change in the selected pane. In addition to menu commands, there are toolbar buttons, and buttons at the bottom of each pane in the scroll bar that navigate your changes. |
| Go To Line ( Ctrl+G | Opens the Go To Line dialog box where you can specify the line number to go to. |
| Inline Differences | Displays or hides inline differences when the toolbar button is pressed. You can customize how inline differences are displayed in the File Compare/Merge Options dialog box available on the Tools menu. |
| Split Differences | Splits blocks of changed lines to represent inserted or deleted blocks (by default, signified by a light green color). |
| Highlight Changes | Used in conjunction with a three-way comparison, it prevents File Compare/Merge from automatically recalculating differences on any file modifications, and helps you see which blocks were inserted or deleted to or from the base file. |
| Nonconflicting Parts Auto Merge | Used in conjunction with a three-way comparison,File Compare/Merge places only the nonconflicting portions of the two compared files into the base file. |
| Full Auto Merge | Used in conjunction with a three-way comparison, File Compare/Merge parses the two files from top to bottom, examines the changes and automatically decides whether to keep or add each change to the final base version of the file. |
| Encoding |
Enables you to specify a desired character encoding (codepage) for the displayed files using the Charset Selection dialog box. File Compare/Merge displays encoding information in the bottom-right corner of the Status Bar. You can double-click the encoding icon to open the Charset Selection dialog box. |
| Save Changes to Disk | Saves changes to your folders to disk. When you make a change to folders, the changed folder or file is marked with a check mark, an you are prompted to commit the change. |
| Auto Commit | Specifies immediate or deferred committing of changes to disk. |
| Enable/Disable Synchronized Selection | Enables automatic selection of the same file in both panes, or all panes in a three-way comparison. This is enabled by default. If turned off using the toolbar, only the file in the pane with focus is selected. |
| Expand/Collapse All Nodes In Tree | Expands or collapses all the nodes in the tree. These actions are available on the toolbar. |
| Expand Only Tree Nodes Containing Changes | Expands only tree nodes that contain changes in the folders. These actions are available on the toolbar. |
| Extend/Compact View | Toggles between a compact and extended view of your folder comparisons. The compact view collapses empty color blocks into single lines. The default is a compacted view. |
| Smart Tree Diff | Performs a smart comparison on the folders, highlighting differences such as renamed and modified components or cross-linked components. |
| Show/Cut Plain Differences |
Enables you to see differences that conform to folder structure and file names simultaneously, with differences found by the smart comparison feature (Smart Tree Diff). This toolbar button is only available if you have enabled the smart comparison feature by pressing Smart Tree Diff on the toolbar. The Show/Cut Plain Differences button never displays on the toolbar if you have chosen to use the Alternative Tree Diff Algorithm on the Smart Comparison page for folder comparisons in the File Compare/Merge Options. |
| Zoom | Zooms in or out on the images being compared when clicking the plus or minus toolbar buttons. |
| Drag and Drop | Allows you to drag and drop content from one pane to the other. You can move or copy the content depending on whether you use the Ctrl key when dragging. |
File Compare/Merge keyboard shortcuts
This table presents the keyboard shortcuts for use in File Compare/Merge.
| Action | Keyboard Shortcut |
|---|---|
| New File Comparison | Ctrl+N |
| New Folder Comparison | Ctrl+Shift+N |
| New Folder Merge | Ctrl+Shift+M |
| New Image Comparison | Ctrl+Alt+N> |
| Save All | Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Ctrl+P | |
| Undo | Ctrl+Z |
| Redo | Ctrl+Y |
| Cut | Ctrl+X |
| Copy | Ctrl+C |
| Paste | Ctrl+V |
| Find | Ctrl+F |
| Find Next | F3 |
| Find Previous | Shift+F3 |
| Go To Line | Ctrl+G |
| Previous Change | F7 or Alt+Up |
| Next Change | F8 or Alt+Down |
| Next Tab | F6 |
| Previous Tab | Shift+F6 |
| Maximize/Minimize Pane | Ctrl+M |
| Center Splitter | Ctrl+H |
| Move Splitter | Ctrl+Shift+S |
| Reload | F5 |
| Open Options Dialog Box | Ctrl+O |
| Replace Text Left To Right (2–way merge) | Alt+Right |
| Replace Text Right To Left (2–way merge) | Alt+Left |
| Append Text Left To Right (2–way merge) | Alt+Shift+Right |
| Append Text Right To Left (2–way merge) | Alt+Shift+Left |
| Delete Text in Left Pane (2–way merge) | Alt+Ctrl+Left |
| Delete Text in Right Pane (2–way merge) | Alt+Ctrl+Right |
| Move Text Up | Alt+Shift+Up |
| Move Text Down | Alt+Shift+Down |
| Replace Text Center To Left | Alt+< |
| Replace Text Center To Right | Alt+> |
| Replace Text Left To Center | Alt+M |
| Replace Text Right To Center | Alt+/ |
| Append Text Left To Center | Alt+Shift+M |
| Append Text Right To Center | Alt+Shift+/ |
| Append Text Center To Left | Alt+Shift+< |
| Append Text Center To Right | Alt+Shift+> |
